Jon Rahm‘s team instantly drew attention since it was formed, and there’s a long story behind how it was named. Several aspects influenced Rahm while he was skimming through ideas. From his favorite comic books to history, the Spaniard left no stone unturned in finding the perfect name for his very own team in the Saudi-backed league.
The two-time major winner shared how the Asterix & Obelix comics influenced the golfer big time while he was figuring out a name. The two main characters reside in a French village, which the Romans tried to invade multiple times but couldn’t since the village had a powerful wizard and a magic potion. Despite knowing that they’d fail, the army or Legion XIII tried to conquer the village again and again, displaying perseverance and dedication.
Jon also described how in ‘XIII’, ‘X’ implies being the captain, and ‘III’ implies the number of team members. The golfer was always fascinated by history and his knowledge about how Legion 13 Gemina helped Julius Caesar get back home to Rome greatly inspired him during the process. Faithfulness and loyalty were the credos Legion 13 believed in and Rahm wanted to reiterate those thoughts while creating his first golf team. This new inclusion on the LIV roster, thus, had something new to offer to the fans.
Rahm also went on to explain the reason behind picking a lion’s face as the team’s logo. The 2023 Masters winner stated how he grew up watching Athletic Bilbao play as it was his favorite soccer team, also called the Lions. The lion is also an animal that is often associated with respect and fear, and Rahm wanted that zeal to prevail in his team. Apart from Legion XIII, here is how other LIV teams got their fancy names.
LIV Golf Team Names And The History Behind Them
The 4Aces GC team captained by Dustin Johnson refers to the idea of a hole-in-one made by all the four golfers in the team. Cleeks GC has a Scottish origin, where Cleeks means “a club with an iron head, a narrow face, and little slope, used for shots from a poor lie on the fairway and sometimes for putting.” Bryson DeChambeau‘s Crushers GC gets its name for making drives at far distances.
Fireballs GC and their logo, on the other hand, show an anthropomorphic golf ball on fire. This indicates the fierce attitude that the team carries. Phil Mickelson‘s HyFlyers GC was born from the word “high flyer,” which indicates success. Also, “Hy” describes a hybrid club in a golf bag. Iron Heads GC gets its name from the fact that the iron golf club faces are called iron heads.
The seventh on the list is Majesticks GC, which is a combination of two words, ‘majestic’ and ‘sticks’. The next one is Brooks Koepka‘s Smash GC, which focuses on the idea of hitting the ball hard. The ninth on the roster is Torque GC, where ‘torque’ represents the amount of twists in a club.
Louis Oosthuizen’s Stinger GC is named after a golf shot. A stinger shot is used to keep balls closer to the ground during windy days. The Niblicks GC got its name from a nine-iron. These irons are used for short shots to rescue the ball from sand hazards and long grass. Lastly, Punch GC acquired its name from the idea of punching a ball out of the rough.
From the array of names on the LIV roster, it is clear that the teams want to personify resilience, strength and perseverance. This becomes even more meaningful after one focuses on what the golfers have been through after they decided to switch Tours.
